Even at a track where it pays to expect the unexpected, nothing it seems could prepare the V8 Supercars faithful for the spectacular opening round finale in Adelaide on Sunday.
In his first round back from a broken leg, Holden’s James Courtney seemed so surprised to have emerged triumphant in race three’s 250km street fight he crowd surfed in scenes reminiscent of his 2010 V8 championship win.
Reigning V8 champion Jamie Whincup also raised eyebrows when he surrendered his lead with 25 laps left in the 76 lap finale thanks to a pitlane infringement penalty then speared off the road after contact with Michael Caruso trying to make up lost time.
Whincup finished 15th overall.
And all drivers seemed to be scratching their heads over new race re-start rules introduced this season, blaming it for Holden veteran Jason Bright’s spectacular crash on the 14th lap.
Whincup had dubbed Courtney’s Holden Racing Team the V8s’ sleeping giant this season after they poached his team manager Adrian Burgess.
And Courtney showed the HRT beast had stirred by cutting a swathe through the street carnage to claim his first Adelaide win from 15th on the grid.
He held out Whincup’s Red Bull teammate Craig Lowndes with pole sitter and fellow Holden driver Shane van Gisbergen third.
Only 10 cars in the 25-strong field finished on the lead lap.
Nine drivers failed to finish.
Lowndes made the podium in all three of the opening weekend’s races and leads the championship on 282 points ahead of Fabian Coulthard (230), van Gisbergen (221) and Whincup (199).
“I may have got carried away but they don’t come along too often,” Courtney said of his elaborate winning celebrations.
“But we know they (Red Bull Racing) are still the class of the field at the moment. We just managed to get on top of them today.”
Whincup relinquished the lead when slapped with a drive through penalty for a pitlane infringement.
He later suffered steering damage when he made contact with Caruso as he tried to muscle his way back through the field.
“I owe a big apology to Michael. I came in out of control,” Whincup said of their bingle.
Another talking point was Bright’s horrific crash.
Somehow the Holden veteran walked away after he spectacularly corkscrewed into the fence.
Drivers blamed the new re-start rules for the crash, saying the field became too congested under regulations which force the race leader post-safety car to stay under 60kph before hitting top speed in an allocated “acceleration zone”.
Van Gisbergen and Nissan’s Rick Kelly were certainly not fans after they copped a drive through penalty for speeding under the new regulations when they threatened the lead.
“I personally didn’t think there was anything wrong with it before (introducing the new speed regulation),” Courtney said.
“They (officials) are doing it to bunch us up and make it more exciting and that’s the result you get.”
